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About this quote

What does it mean?
A dramatic exchange from the poem where a narrator seeks meaning from a raven.
In plain terms
The narrator asks the raven its name and gets a bleak reply.
What can you take from it?
Seeking answers from the unknown yields silence.

Where it applies

  • reading poetry
  • grief
  • supernatural inquiry

Putting it to work

  • reciting
  • analyzing symbolism
  • writing poetry

Questions to consider

  • What do you ask the void?
  • How do you handle unanswered questions?

Another view

This is fictional verse, not a literal statement.

More from Edgar Allan Poe

  1. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

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  2. 'Doubtless,' said I, 'what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster ti…

    Permalink to quote #79
  3. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.

    Permalink to quote #76

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